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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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P 74 
SI N3 

Copy i 



A N E \V 



IlISTORV OF OLD SALEM, 



ASD THE TOVTHt ADJACtXT — TO ; 



mim, nmii marblehiad and ltnn. 



BY RALPH NOTER, ESa 
ixasHUB or m ioqkk coxatt clvb 







SALEM: 

PUBLISHED AT THE BOOKSTORE OF JOHM P. JEWETT. 
1342. 



[C7° It is proposed to issue the numbers of this work, at inter- 
vals of two or three weeks. The extent of the series will be deter- 
mined by the extent of patronage. The low price often cents per 
number, the author trusts, will secure for it a somewhat extended 
circulation. 



// 



ff<a^ 



NKW HISTORY 



OLDS A L L M • A N D T H K A D J A C K N T T O W N S. 




NUMBER ONE. 

t ) M i: worthy people, ii is possible, will desire 
to b« informed of the reasons which h«*e 
prompted me lo undcrlakc ihe historian's 
insk. And as it is not an unreasonable 
doMre, I deem il proper lo make an observation 
or lw3 explanatory. 
T . r- .r. those x^ho hate given snatches of the history of this 
renowned region, whose lies it would require the qu.lls of all the 
geese that muse on the hills or swim m the ponds of the now 
contracted limits of Naumkeng to write the conirad.ct.ons of. 1 
intend incidentally lo throw a few shots into this Qock of scoundrels. 
1 have wandered in the ancient burial places, and read the p.ous, 
ridiculous, blasphemous and alTeeiing records placed above the 
sleepers; and such thoughts have filled my mind ns I dared nol 
utter. Were the recording angel directed to make up his account 
of character from the inscriptions of tombstones, there would be 
some senee in rearing the marble falsifiers; but as he is nol. there 



. The ancient Ind.an name of the "oerie faire place" to which the 
so.tlcrs early gave that of Salem, or Peace, was Naumkeag. Down to 163., 
,he,ow„sh.pco„.prehcnded together xv.th it. present Hm.ts, Be-rly, Dan^ 
vers. Manchester, SUrblehead, M.ddl.ton, a part of Lyniv Topsf-ld and 
Wenham. But soon after that date the growing offspring began one bj one 
to snap off the leaclmg strings 



will brobably be some amusing discrepances between his memo- 
randa and the stones. In these pages, I shall now and then have 
occasion to introduce some theological woodcutters, barnyard le- 
gislators and swamp heros, in the analisation of whose characters, 
I shall not deem it necessary to follow in the path of any flattering 
or wayward predecessor. 

A few chroniclers have gone systematically over the field on 
which I am about to enter, whom it will be my pride and pleasure 
to follow, in the humble character of gleaner, they having over- 
looked a few — and few indeed, I must allow — of the important 
occurrences which had claim to notice, beyond others which 
received amplified consideration. One or two specimens of this 
neglected progeny I will here introduce, that I may be fully un- 
derstood. In 1637 there occurred an earthquake, which must have 
done great damage, by overthrowing houses and frightning 
chickens, rattling down stone walls and crockery, had the foot- 
stool rocked with sufficient violence. The very next year a weasel 
was shot near Hugh Peters' hen-roost. One autumn a shallop 
was overset near Winter Island, and two or three lives would 
have been lost had the mariners been unable to save themselves. 
The same season, about the time pumpkins were gathered, a cow 
died in Beverly. A dreadful thunderstorm occurred in 1640, by 
which many unprepared souls would have been hurried into 
eternity, had the vitality of their cases been destroyed by the 
electric fluid. On the 4ih of June, 1629, about sunset, an Indian 
stole Governor Endicott's rum bottle. A burrow of woodchucks 
was discovered on Marblehead Neck, in the middle of the summer 
of 1653. A dog was drowned in Lynn, in 1674. I find further, that 
these historians have neglected to mention the shooting of several 
foxes and bears ; as well as the ravenous depredations of red squir- 
rels on the walnuts. And not one has mentioned the mislaying of 
Mr. Higginson's spectacles, by which accident that learned divine 
was for three sabbaths obliged to employ a young man to read his 
sermons from the pulpit, while he stood on the seat behind, and 
made the proper oratorical gestures. And I have noticed one 
or two omissions in regard to Indians and rattlesnakes. Matters 
thus overlooked, I remark again, it will be my privilege to bring 
before the reader in all their freshness and depth of interest. And 
proud am I of the opportunity of rendering such exalted service. 



Tlic waves of ocean no ver bore a banJ of nobler hfiirl^ ihnn 
were many of those who firsi landed on this coa^i ; and God's 
praise never ascended in more arceplnblc strains than from the 
sunny hilN, dim vales nnd rugged shores of ancient Naumkenjr- 
But among that band of truly great, came those who uere more 
worthy of having their powers of physical endurance displayed on 
an English hangman's scafTold, than in the sequestered cots of the 
psalm-singing Puritans. 

Roger Conani, in 1626, broke up the fishing and planting station 
at Cape Ann. It was csiablisheJ about two years before, by the 
Dorchester Company, in England, which had been formed through 
the instrumentality of Rev. Mr. While. Conani had been super- 
intendent for about a year ; but his labors had proved unsuccessful. 
With quite a numlKjr of associates — among whom was the re- 
nowned Lyford, who, in connection with Oldham, had a few years 
before occasioned such a ferment in the Plymouth colony, by 
seditious proceedings — he moved to Naumkeag ; or Nehum-kek, 
according to Mr. Higginson's orihogruphy. They located them- 
selves on the little peninsula through which the present Bridge 
street runs. And thus was the permanent settlement of the place 
commenced. 

The brawny arm of Conant was the chief support of the infant 
colony. He was a man of groat prudence and saga'-ity, with 
energy o( character, honesty of purpose and unconquerable perse- 
verance. His personal appearance was somewhat remarkable. 
He was about six feet in height, and reasonably stout. His head 
very much resembled a warty turnip set edgewise on a pivot. And 
one of the most interesting qualities which he possessed was the 
power of turning his head, by a sudden jerk, so far round that 
he could see entirely across his shoulders ; a circumstance which 
gave rise to the grotesque assertion of Lyford, that many 
trmes when Conant was angry, he had known his head to 
spin round with such force as to create a breeze sufficient to blow 
ofT a man's hat, at ten feet distance ; and that a humming 
was produced, on several occasions, so loud as to be mistaken for 
an Indian drum. His eyebrows were thick and ran entirely 
across the forehead, like a line of black mois over a gray rock. 
And his nose was long and shaped precisely like a powder-horn. 
.\s a man is not responsible for the physical peculiarilicb which 



6 



nature made his, there is never any impropriety in another's 
describing them. It may also be mentioned that Conant was 
somewhat uncouth in manners — indeed, he was little in advance, in 
this respect, of the red skinned hooters on the other side of the 
river. But according to Mr. White, and by the concurrent testi- 
mony of all contemporaries who have given his character; he was 
a man of fervent piety. And^there is no doubt of his having 
possessed the most indomitable courage. The following incident 
will amply prove his possession of the latter quality. 

While the company were at Cape Ann, they were dreadfully 
harrassed by strange animals; and to this day it is not known of 
what species these " vnaccovntable trovblers " were. " William 
Wood," an English traveller, who in 1633 virrote a book called 
" New England's Prospect," insists that they were either lions or 
devils, " there being," he observes "no other creatvres that haue 
svch a terrible kind of roareing." 

There was a great stir one afternoon, at the Cape. A youngster 
named Jabez Tilley had gone out to pick blackberries in the 
woods toward Manchester. After an absence of a couple of hours, 
he reappeared at the settlement, making headway with all the 
speed his duck-legs were capable of. His locomotive tune was 
pitched so high, that he pitched himself over the rocks, down into 
a salt-pan — for extensive salt-works were established at the Cape 
by the first comers — before he had power to bring up. 

With all possible expedition Jabe was dragged up the rocks. 
His visage bore marks of the most indescribable terror, and his 
hair had turned as white as the salt heap itself; from which, 
by the way, it never could be coaxed back to its original rockweed 
hue. When he had succeeded in raking together a few of his scat- 
tered senses, he gave a thrilling account of his adventure. The 
long and short of his story was that he had come well nigh in con- 
tact with a most wonderful, hideous and indescribable monster. 
He had not only been frightened to within three degrees of death, 
but had spilt all his blackberries. The animal was on a tree, just 
ready to sprmg upon his head. In color, the beast was red as a 
boiled lobster; his claws were like fish-hooks and not confined to 
his toes, but protruding from various parts of his body ; and his tail 
was shaped like a harpoon. 



The opcrniions ai ilie snlt-works nnd lish-flakes were inManily 
suspended and a consuliaiion held. Lyford thought, from the 
crook of the tail, that the animal was most probably a devil. But 
Conant was strongly inclined to the opinion tha; it was a lion — for 
who ever heard of a red devil. A debate arose on this point, 
which from animation merged into acrimony, and was brought to 
a close by Conant's quietly taking Lyford by the collar ai)d pitch* 
ing him heel; over head into the cooling contents of a sali-kctile. 
A sense of common danger prevented immediate reseninient of the 
indignity — all minor difll-rcnces were smoihered, and it was una- 
nimously agreed that the strongest elTori should be used for the 
capture or destruction of the motisier. So every man hastened to 
equip himself for the perilous expedition. The salt-mnn, who by 
the way, Bradford says was "an ignorant, foolish, self-wilied 
man " — armed himself with a slice. Lyford took no weapon ex- 
cepting a Latin Bible, deeming that all-sufTicieni in overcocning 
the adversary, who, notwithstanding the saline bnih, he still 
believed to be a devil. Conant and two others armed themselves 
with muskets; and the residue, with whatever they could lay 
hands on. A motley procession was formed, nnd after n prayer 
from Lyford, and the singing of the hundredth Psalm, by the 
company, they moved forward, under the guidance of the trem- 
bling Jabc. 

With the slow step of fear they approached the dreaded spot ; 
Conant's head all the while twisting on every side, with an elasti- 
city surprising even in him. and Lyford now and then ejaculating 
a snatch of Latin. They reached the spot just as the shades of 
evening rendered dim the outline* of objects. By the fortuitous 
circumstance of Jabe's stepping on the heap of blackberries he had 
spilt in his precipitate flight, he was enabled to point directly to 
the tree on the branches of which iho tcrriflic animal still retained 
his hold. There ho was, and desperate looking eoough too. No 
time was to be lost. Lyford modestly suggested the expediency 
of opening hostilities by a volley of Latin. This was acceded to, 
but it was deemed proper to flank the singular piece of ordnance 
by salt-slice, boat-hook, musket and club. The attack was admi- 
rably executed. But no good came of it. The crouched monster 
made no response, nor raanifesteJ any emotion, and Lyford drew 



back in disgust, declaring himself convinced that it was no devil, 
and that it would be as profitable to talk Hebrew to a screechowi 
as Latin to him. The necessity of some other mode of attack was 
apparent. 

Conant levelled his musket — crack, whiz — and away went 
the ball, apparently into the very vitals of the monster. The echo 
rang wildly in the distant caverns of the forest, and literally 
waked the snakes, for the startling rattle was heard in every 
direction. But the discharge had no effect in disturbing the equa- 
nimity of the scornful enemy. After all, it might be a devil. So 
it was agreed that every one present, with the exception of Lyford 
and the musketeers should arm himself with a stone; and a 
simultaneous discharge of muskets and stones, together with a 
stream of Latin from Lyford, was ordered. The combined attack 
was made, and still no visible movement induced. 

But now a thought seemed to strike Conant as a thunderbolt 
would a powder cask. He rushed forward to the tree, heedless of 
the yells of caution set up by the others, and clasping his athletic 
arms around the trunk ascended, with savage force seized the 
terrifying object, and in giving it a powerful wrench, lost his 
balance and fell to the ground with it in his arms. There they 
lay for some minutes, without either manifesting any signs of life. 
At length the others summoned courage to approach and examine 
into the state of afTairs. Conant they found to have been stunned 
by the fall. But what sort of an animal was it? Why, it was 
only one of those huge, unnatural, deformed tufts, which frequently 
grow on large cedars, familiarly called crow-nests. It was of 
faded hue, such as the terrified blackberry gatherer mistook for 
red. That was the lion, or devil — and about as much a real 
object of terror as people usually see when they bid adieu to their 
senses from fright. 

Conant was but little injured, and they soon took up their line 
of march for the settlement, where they arrived in the course of 
the evening; having agreed to tell their women, that they had 
killed a monster so hideous that they dared not take him home, 
but buried him in the woods ; and they were never known to 
converse very freely about the expedition, even among themselves. 
The next morning they had the satisfaction of discovering that a 



•quad of Indians had been up from Sandy Bay and pitched rH 
their boiling kcitlcs and drying pans down ihe rocks into the sea. 
My reader is made acquainted with this little incident, merely as 
evidence of the courageous spirit of Conani — who, by the way, 
gave Jabc a most confounded whipping — and here you see hiin 
enjoying its efTecis. 




h IS not probable thai any man did more to sustain the triumph* 
nni progress of the colony than Conani. But his services were 
never duly reworded or appreciated. The Company, it is proba> 
ble, ultimately saw, that the supervision of alHiirs should have 
been rested in his hands, at lea#t till the removal of the govern- 
ment and pnicni to New England. But he had not sulTicient 
ambition, recklessness, impudence and dishonesty to scramble for 
place. As before observed, he was by no means a refined man, in 
the common acceptation of the term ; but he was honest and firm 
and understood the great objects aimed at, and the most certain 
course for their accomplishment. And beside, what was the valuo 
of those accomplishments in which he was wanting, here, among 
the generally simple hearted and even rude scalers, and among 
their still less refined co-occupants of the soil, the Indians, bears, 
raccoons and rattlesnakes. 

Honest Koger, however, was not altogether insensible to the 
neglect with which his services had generally been met. As laie 
as 1671, in a petition to the "Generull Covric " for a change of 
the name of Beverly to Budlcigh, because the amiable Salem 
people had nicknamed the town Beggarly, he says: " I neuer yet 
made sviie or rciivesie vnio y' CJcnerall Covrtc for y' least matter, 
tho' I think I might as well hauc done, as manic others haue who 
baue obinincd mvch vvithovt hazard of life, or preferring y* pvblic 
goode before their own iniercsi. which I praise God I haue done." 



10 

The settlers, as before mentioned, planted themselves along the 
Bridge street peninsula. They hastily erected dwellings, which, 
for the most part, were nearly as comfortable and comely as those 
of their Indian neighbors. They were built of logs, with the 
interstices stuffed wiih clay, seaweed, marsh-hay, or some similar 
substance. The fire-places and chirr.nies were of the shapeless 
stones found on the shores and hills in the vicinity, piled up 
without regard to anything excepting earthquakes. They had a 
strange notion that earthquakes were very prevalent in New 
England, and hence, in the construction of these rude habitations, 
strength was deemed the first requisite. Lyford had his arm 
broken — and came very near having his neck broken also — by 
the pouncing down of something as he lay asleep on a bear skin, 
the very first night after the completion of his dwelling. He 
sprang up and opened wide his Latin sluice, supposing it to be a 
Cape Ann devil, or at least an earthquake or catamount. But 
after yelling long enough to raise a neighbor with a lantern, he 
found the alarming attack to have been made by a knotty rafter, 
which had fallen, from the twist having got out of the birch withe 
which secured it. 

A short distance down the present Bridge street, on the western 
side, there was a fresh water pond, occupying some three or four 
acres; and roundabout, for quite a distance, the land was swampy 
and covered with forest trees. Tall pines and hemlocks grew 
along the margin, and the ivy, the grape and climbing bram- 
ble wound round their mossy trunks. In summer, the lilies 
opened their white leaves upon the quiet waters, and sent forth a 
perfume surpassingly sweet to the refined senses of the bears, foxes, 
woodchucks, weasels, racoons, and snakes, which held almost 
undisturbed possession of the solitudes. The wild duck floated 
musingly around, fearful of nothing, though now and then a brown 
water snake would coil about her feet, and jerk her to the miry 
bottom. It was beside this pond that the bold hallelujahs and the 
stirring paeans of the settlers of Naumkeag first rang. And Ly- 
ford, though a steadfast friend of Conant, unvvaveringly insisted 
that the voice of that hardy settler was so powerful that he had 
known it to ruffle the waters twenty feet from the shore. 

From the east side of the pond a little rill sprang, and leaped 
along murmuringly till it emptied into the cove on the other side 



11 

of the penin.uU. C!«.e by v -« habiLlior. of 

( .nant. A..d mo«l of ih. seuler. were uv.lua a Mone » ihrow. 
The s.urJy pioneer would often sit on .he log bench by b.s door, 
and spend ihe hour of cvon.nr: uv.lighi in refleciion. And ,n 
the hi-^hest point of view. hi. rHl-ciion. were immeasurably more 
prof-able than are tho.e of hi, degenerate .ucoe..or, who now 
lounge awaviho^e .ober hour,, musing on the dazxUngglor.es 
of their ou^i money bag., and mking ibeir mpiorn bram, .n 
demising the mosl effectual iray of destroying the.r nc^h- 
bor,' reputation.. There honest Roger would s.t and calmly 
con.ilrr-!.. p.. s'.on ofinf.nl baptism, which at that period not 
p^l^. ^ ...... i .> ! -om* of the wood cufing pi!-rimj at Plymouth, 

^^^^'f^.l !. in some branches of the alkaline bosom 

^j. j,,^, , . Or he would watch tho ai;ile progre-s 

of the mud turtle, or lutcn lo the cr- And more noble 

were this employment, t^r^n thn, 'h- ^"'^'*", 

Wall or State street mu 1 

A little to the north « i • , 

tions. which time lo tbi. day has not entirely Icv.i.eJ. l.u.u u Inch 
comprehensive and pleading view, of the river and surround.ng 
country could be obtained. To one of these, the fathers of the 
settlement often resorted, when the labor of the day wes over, 
quietly to commune on the prospects and interests of the colony. 
One evening. Conant. Lyford. and another sturdy set.ler were 
seated upon the mossy trunk of on old pine, which had year, 
before been prostrated on a headland, by a tornado which the 
Indians a..ericd was so violent as to blow three foxes and a bear 
across North river-and al.o a rock of several tons we-sht. which 
to this day remains embedded in the bank. They sat debating on 
the propriety of singing the fortieth p.alm with a double nasal 
twan-. The sun xvas sinking over the dim forc«a line, arfd as h.s 
reddenin- rnys fell on the blue waters, they were chan;;ed to the 
hue of loveliest violet. The reflected forms of the haidy onk. the 
dandy maple, the pliant walnut, the sensitive birch and the flnunt- 
ins pine, were rocked in the cradle of the wave<, as if nature 
wc^c thus hushing her giant children to their ni-htly repose. 

All ofa sudden an Indian skiiTdarted from the .hore near where 
the dirty walls of the laboratory are now i'ecn. It glided ofT into 
the river and took a course toward the point above which the three 



12 

settlers were sitting. Conant erected himself and scanned the 
approaching bark with such earnestness as to draw his black eye- 
brows into a zigzag line, like a black snake running over a rock. 
Lyford shoved his barberry staff up under his chin, and let off 
some eloquent jerks of Latin, while Job Watson — for that was 
the name of the third — began to examine the priming of his fowl- 
ing piece, a companion which was always by his side. Their first 
surprise had hardly begun to subside, when a still greater one 
succeeded, on their perceiving that the sole occupants of the skiff 
were a couple of young females. The bark was managed with 
the utmost skill, by one of the maids, who was soon perceived to 
be in the costume of a distant Indian tribe. 

The canoe shot up the strand, and the three hastened toward it. 
The Indian maid leaped ashore, revealing a form of the most sur- 
passing elegance and symmetry. Her rich vvampum girdle, and 
the while eagle plumes that waved over her raven locks, denoted 
her to be of the most exalted birth in the shadowy land. By signs 
she directed their attention to the other, who sat exhausted in the 
skiff. They lifted her out, in an almost fainting condition, and 
perceived that bhe was an English girl. The forest maid, bv the 
most graceful and tender signs, bade her farewell, and sprang 
toward the boat. At this moment, Conant, who had supported the 
almost inanimate girl, forced his charge upon Lyford, who hastened 
with her to one of the nearest dwellings and then returned. 

The movement of Conant, who seized the skiff by the bow, 
made it apparent to the Indian girl, that her departure was to be 
opposed. Her eyes flashed like sunlit ripples on the midnight 
waters, and a nervous tremor seized every feature, causing an 
almost portentous clatter among her glittering ornaments. Her 
face, till then beaming with all the freshness and wild beauty of 
the forest flower, was shaded as if by the mists that roll in the van 
of the tornado. She made an effort to leap into her bark, but the 
brawny arm of Conant rudely thrust her aside. Quick as the flash 
of her own dark eye, her long delicate fingers entered the folds of 
her wampum belt and she drew forth a long English dirk. The 
blade for an instant flashed in the departing sunlight, and would 
have descended into her own startled breast, had not a ball from 
the musket of Watson first entered. He saw her draw the dirk, 
and supposing it to be aimed at the heart of Conant, fired, and she 
fell bleeding upon the sand. 



13 

The hardy ihroc were horror struck — even young \Va»50n, nl 
his own deed — ar.d ihcy stood mute, lill ihe cloom of nijjhi wns 
spread like a hrond pall over thcin and her. The murmuring of 
ihc waves now gave nolicc of the near approach of ihe lidc. Co- 
nant took the lifeless form in his arms and they 5O0n reached his 
habilniion. A sad story they had to tell ; and before it wan hulf 
finished the poor girl who had been saved, and was now par'.iully 
rcMored, was again in a deep swoon. She however after a time 
so far recovered as to be able to inform them thai she was of the 
Plymouth colony and had been captured by the Indians and carried 
a weary distance into the forest — that a day had been appointed 
for her sacrifice, as the powow had declared her death to be neces- 
sary 10 the propitiation of the demon whose aid ihey were about to 
invoke, in an expedition fpr the extirpation of the pale-skinned 
intruders — that this young and noble daughter of the foresi, the 
beloved and only child of the most powerful chief in this whole 
region nf country, proposed clandestinely to depart with and guide 
her to her home. 

Willi what jpy the pining' capiive am-picd the generous proposal 
I need not attempt to assist my reader in imagining. All ihe forest 
princess exacte<l was the solemn promise '.hat the whites should per- 
mit her to return unharmed and immediaiely- Most cordially 
was the promise made that no while would lid a finger to do her 
harm, but that she would be loaded with presents and allowed to 
re'.urn whenever she chose. At the mention of reward, her eye 
fell and every feature assumed ihe attitude of deep displeasure. 

With a small Indian reticule filled with provisions they just at 
nightfall secretly set forward on their perilous journey of several 
day, toward the Plymouth seiilcroent. The unlamcd foot of ihe 
Indian girl strode fearlesily alon^r ihe forest wilds, and when the 
weary limbs of her pale companion refused furlhcr endurance, she 
would seat herself on the mossy sward, and hold iht drooping head 
in her lap. With raplures she would listen to the songs of ihe birds, 
and the flaunling leaves of the forest flower to her eye unfolded 
charms unspeakable. By some unfortuiious circumstance, ihey 
pursued a course which it was found would lake them far to the cast- 
ward of the colony and were about shaping ihcir path anew, when 
ihey met a lone Indian from whom they obtained information of 
ihe new seitlement al Naumkea;^. They followed his directions, 



u 

and reached the river, where ihey procured a skifT, by the Indian 
girl's pledging- on>3 of her white eagle feathers, which, through all 
the region would be a safer shield thar. a coat of mail. He over 
whose brow that royal ensign waved, was in person sacred. They 
crossed, as the reader has been informed. 

The poor girl was in the utmost distress at the dreadful fate of 
her courageous, sacrificing and now sacrificed friend and guide. 
But how was her horror increased on perceiving that the bullet had 
been sent to that noble heart by the hand of her own brother. For 
when the bewilderment had somewhat subsided, and she had given 
further passages of her story, Watson and herself had the satisfac- 
tion, melancholy though the events rendered it, of clasping each 
other in the brother's and sister's embrace. The truth was, 
long before Lyi^ord and his associates, among whom were Conant 
and VValsoi), had left Plymouth for Nantaskel* this sister 
of the latter, while in the woods gathering berries, had been 
captured and carried off by the savages. And a few days after, 
the report that she had been mercilessly tomahawked a few miles 
beyond the settlement, gained currency and credence. These 
circumstances too, in part account for the indiscreet haste with 
which Watson discharged his musket at the girl. He had sworn, 
after the supposed death of his sister, to destroy every red skin 
who fell into his power. 

Hetty Watson had many afTecting stories to tell of the goodness 
of the heart of that royal forest flower so suddenly and rudely 
levelled — of her wild adventures and her lonely musings. She 
was romantic, even for an Indian maid, and the dim woods often 
rang with her plaintive song. Her tribe had given her the name 
of Whip-poor-will, from her unaccountable admiration of the 
notes of that lonely bird. Even when a child, she would sit 
■among the dark wilds of the forest till midnight or even till dawn, 
listening to the voice of her strange charmer. And she gaid her 
spirit would be a whip-poor-will. 



* II will be recollected that when Lyford and Oldham were expelled from 
Plymouih they retired to Nantasket. Conant, among other adherents, fol- 
lowed them, and when he was appointed superintendent of the Cape Ann 
station, he invited both Oldham and Lyford to accompany him. His invita- 
tion, however, appears to have been accepted only by the latter. 



15 

That night, a icrrifTjc ttorm suddenly swept over the Jetilemcnr. 
The lightning? flashed a« if an ocean of flnme were dn^hing its 
hroad waves upon the •rcmbling earth, and the thunders rolled as 
though the car of the ^ Jrcat Spirit were in mntinn to crush all 
things. The torn ofT branches and mangled lops of the trees were 
furiously dashed against the habitations, and the tur;*e angrily 
grotvled along the shores. At interrals. when the raging ele- 
ments were hushed, the startling »oicc of a whip-poor-will was 
h'-nrd, ringing more wildly thao the cry of the petrel on the 
-ruiy sea. 

The next day. they buried the remains of the Indinn girl at 
•lie fool oft herolook. on the lit'.le point thai juts out at the bend of 
the river. For years, the winds of heaven moaned a dir::e in the 
dark green, glossy branches above her; but now, the ranting rail- 
road cars pass almost upon her grave. 

After her burial, every night during the sen«nn a whip-poor- 
will would come and perch upon ihc dry limb of a tree that hung 
over the dwelling of Watson, and there pour forth a stmrn so wild 
and so melancholy as to seem almost supernatural. And season 
after season were its visiit renewed. 

Conant was tho first who had a house in Salem. But he snys 
).<-• "neither hn ! ••" ■• ' 'id io naroeing either that or anic other 
icAne." 

The frame «m .u.- i ■! uog which notw [1842] stands on Wash- 
ington, north corner of Church street, in Salem, was brought from 
Cape Ann, by Conanl. It had been erected at the station, before 
Con.nnt assumed the supcrinl'»ndence, and was taken down and 
r- iiHivrd at the lime the enterprise was abandoned. 

On the fith of September, 10*2*^, John Endicotl (or Endiro^e as 
the name should be spell) arrived with his company. He imme- 
diately entcp'd upon his duties as agent for the patentees of Mas- 
sachusetts colony. On the lOih of the next April.^he w.ns cho«en 
governor and six vencrables were appointed to act ns his council. 
In some respects, .Mr. Endirott was peculiar, both menially and 
physically. His head was of singular shape. The crown was 
flattened to such a degree that it seemed as though a slice had 
been cut oflT. The deformity is said to have originated from his 
father's having danced him up so high in rejoicing at his birth, 
thai he bumped his h?ad against the ceiling wilh such force that 



16 

the yielding skull became misshaped. And all the anxious 
squeezii-rg of the physician and nurse could never overcome the 
edects of the indignity ofTered to nature. 

The peculiar shape of Mr. Endicoll's head, to some extent was 
apparent in his descendants for a long series of years. A long 
time after the decease of the governor, something of a stir was one 
afternoon occasioned at the meeting house, by the minister's 
making allusion in one of his discourses to " the flat heads," — 
meaning a small branch of the Naticks then located in the limits 
of the present town of Hopkinton. Many of the congregation 
deemed the remarks an unwarrantable attack on the Endicott 
family. And the strongest assurances of their having mistaken 
the intended application of the term flat heads, were requisite to 
allay the flare-up. The fault finders probably caught at what 
appeared to be an opprobrious epithet, while half asleep. It is 
amusing to see how quick people wake, when their neighbors' 
qualities fall under the hatchel. I have always found that the 
shortest way to wake the most morbid sleeper is to begin to whis- 
per a tale about his neighbor's frailties. And there was full as 
much sense in the ferment here recorded as there is in nine tenths 
of such occurrences at the present day. Mr. Endicott's deformity, 
however, did not descend to the last century, for in Mather's 
minute details about the Salem people, not a word is said on the 
subject, and there would have been no danger of his omitting to 
mention such a circumstance, had it existed. 

Originally, Governor Endicott had a most beautiful pair of eyes, 
but at the time of the arrival of Winthrop, he had strained them 
so in looking after the interests of the colony, that they resembled 
black beans set in red putty. He did one noble deed a year or 
two after his arrival ; and that was, thrusting a pitchfork 
nearly through the carcass of one '"of my knavish ancestors, on 
the occasion of a quarrel about driving a flock of hens to water. 
My ancestors, by the way, I have the mortification to acknowledge, 
were among the greatest scoundrels and loafers who infested the 
colony. We number in our illustrious line, several witches and 
wizards, of whom 1 intend hereafter to speak somewhat at large. 
And the characters of one or two amiable individuals who would 
have had their persons displayed on the scafTold had they not 
broken jail and fled, add lustre to our family annals. 



17 

■ rs were a piou?, a ihinkiog. a laborious peo- 
ple. Ti.cy hu--ca ihcir bibles closer lo iheir hearts ihnn ihcy dia 
iheir wives. They speni more lime in driving sin from iheir hnb- 
it.tions and iheir brea«i8 ihan in driving red squirrels and woo.l- 
chucka from their field-. Th-^r^ n«cendod from ihis chosen sp.l 
, • \ ' ' \:\ mighl 

such son'* of pious 1 /> 

, . Judea s 



h.r. 



1 !..'.• ir 



..loafer*. "i<* soaploc. 



I' 

nu 1 

i n » 1 1 ■. r. , 

nr I'lri''? wfiihotil 



rse 



!nd 
•a every 



• n. But 
">red 

'.liat 

, ^ " ^ !i ir.iies in 
period 10 ri9« 

,, ... ; -obriety of ihe 

hs*vt county. ' r u 

proi.M, 1 -d hearer*, iho r - °' »'»« 

preacher, and above all at , '? ^^^^'^^^ 

some of iho vital doctrine* have undergone, that ho would in de- 
rision dance a jig back lo hii grave. I do not know where ibcso 
improremenis will end. bui am apprehensive ihai ail the theolo- 
logical engineering will nol result in iho discovery of a shorter, 
•afer or more certain route lo heaven ihan our fathers irod. How 
many of the members of our evangelical churches even, have 
full knowledge of the views taken by the Puritans, of religious 
truth and duty. Why, I could draw from the writers even as late 
as Wigglesworth. such searching and fervid passages as would 
send every man. woman and child, oui of the most rigid church 
among us. to gel breath. FVoplc forget that God's truth is un- 
chanjjable — thai it was the same when the t|iunders of Sinai 
rniile°d over the bowed heads of the multitude, when the anointed 
twelve were sent forth, and will be unchanged when the angel 
applies the flaming torch lo earth. And they were a thinking 
3 



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people. Their minds were not fluttering over all creation and 
lighting no where, as are those of most people of this generation, 
who hence have no claim to their stanch and sterling qualiiies. 
Most of us, who are not absolutely knaves, have heads in which 
the few ideas rattle round and knock each other as would half a 
dozen marbles in a peck measure. 

Go, my reader, at the silent hour of night, and seat yourself 
alone upon one of the gentle headlands that overlook North river — 
then ask the murmuring wave to tell its tale. And if your heart 
be not as impenetrable and your soul as utterly and irretrievably 
lost as a money-lover's, you will learn a lesson which the renewed 
and released spirit will recognise as of more value than ten thou- 
sand times the wealth of the richest plodder in our degenerate com- 
munity. 

In concluding I am constrained to remark that I do not lay 
claim to any thing like eloquence or beauty of style ; nor do I 
pretend to possess the charms of a fervid, romantic or brilliant 
imagination. These are dangerous companions for the historian. 
They are elves which most certainly betray into all sorts of bewil- 
derment. But I do profess to be able to tell the plain, unvarnished 
truth, in becoming style. The acknowledged duty of the histo- 
rian is to martial facts in appropriate ranks, and from the array, to 
draw lessons that men may read and profit by. Some of my re- 
fined, stupid, amiable, indiscreet, respectable, beloved, round head- 
ed, hard headed, flat headed and no headed predecessors, have 
thrown in their facts, observations and lies, black and white, helter- 
skelter, like gravestones in a country churchyard, and then they 
and their readers have broken their heads in groping among them. 
To a charge of this nature, I trust I am not obnoxious. And I 
am constrained to recommend others to take the cue from me. 




THE END OF NUMBER ONE. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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